he appetizer-size form of hot items such as shrimp, stuffed mushrooms, cured meats, seafood, or cold items such as olives, cheese make tapas an apt bite for the season. Says executive chef Azad Arif of Otto Infinto, "Tapas are enjoyable finger food snacks. It is the like of hoes d'oeuvers in France or antipasta in Italy. An assortment of miniature snacks, modern tapas consists of an assortment of both present-day and classic tapas. Small portions always easy to serve at parties and get-togethers."Recipe to try:
Patatas Bravas
This is a classic tapas dish of Spain made with potatoes and sauce.
Ingredients:
Potatoes - 3 medium
Tabasco sauce - 1 tsp
Spanish sweet paprika - 1 tsp
Mustard - 1 tsp
Tomato sauce - 3 tsp
Spanish olive oil for frying - 1 ½ cups
Salt - to taste
Method:
Peel and cut potatoes length wise should make four pieces and then proceed to cutting them crosswise. These should make into small bites size to pick up with tooth picks. Sprinkle salt all over. Take a deep frying pan and add olive oil to it. Heat the oil to medium, when hot enough add the bite size potatoes to it and fry until golden brown, once done set aside to drain.
Now for the sauce we will take a small fry pan and add 1 to 2 tbsp. of olive oil, heat the oil to medium heat and pour the tomato sauce to it and saute for 4 minutes, immediately turn the heat down and add the mustard and mix well for a minute, add the Tabasco and Sweet Paprika and salt to taste. Once all the ingredients are mixed well, place the potatoes in tapas dish and pour the sauce all over it and serve warm with toothpicks. This dish can also be served with some garlic sauce.
